SAN FRANCISCO- October 2018- I am the owner of a yoga studio called All Life is Yoga, and the Founder and Executive Director of the Dharma Project, an Atlanta-based non-profit that brings mindfulness and yoga to communities and organizations that experience high levels of stress and/or trauma. This includes public servants like police officers, first responders, teachers, and leaders in government and the nonprofit sector.

Most recently, the Dharma Project received a Social Impact Loan from Invest Atlanta and Spanx. This zero interest loan has supported our ability to create organizational stability and increase capacity by hiring a Director of Operations.

Just last month, I had the opportunity to attend the Social Capital Markets (SOCAP) Conference in San Francisco, the world’s largest annual convening of impact investors and social entrepreneurs. As a guest of the Community Foundation and its GoATL impact investment fund, I joined a group of other Atlanta leaders (including several founders of the Georgia Social Impact Collaborative) to learn about the latest trends is social innovation and impact investing. Being at SOCAP was so inspiring and I’m grateful for the Community Foundation for offering me this opportunity. The vitality and urgency of impact investing made it, at times, feel like a movement. There were financial institutions, venture capitalists, nonprofits, educators, foundations, consulting firms, those in agriculture business, those fighting for indigenous people’s justice, etc.—I was surrounded by change-makers and those that want to invest in them! It’s difficult to receive loans for social good, so hearing stories of how ROI’s are framed was enlightening. What is the economic value of justice, human rights, democracy? I enjoyed learning from those that are doing the hard work on how they used investments to build stronger organizations and increase impact and from investors on what they’re investing in and why.

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Rutu Chaudhari is the Founder and Executive Director of The Dharma Project, which provides self-care practices to public service organizations and the communities they serve. Learn more about The Dharma Project at https://www.thedharmaproject.org/.

The Georgia Social Impact Collaborative (GSIC) provides resources to connect, educate and inspire stakeholders for the purpose of accelerating the development of Georgia’s impact investing ecosystem. Recently, GSIC announced the launch of the Georgia Social Impact Map (the “Map”), an interactive platform designed to connect and educate stakeholders interested in accelerating impact investing for social outcomes. Intended as a resource for communities around the state, the Map connects new forms of capital to sustaining and scaling solutions to social challenges. GSIC also provides workshops and programming for training specific groups of stakeholders on ways to leverage impact investing to achieve their impact goals, such as the workshop described below, which was attended by 30 leaders of some of GA’s top social enterprises and nonprofits.

Atlanta, Georgia is booming in the field of tech. It's the sixth fastest growing start-up city in the US, generating 20,000 programming jobs with an average salary of about $85K. An Atlanta charter public school teacher by day, Jeffrey Martín sees the obvious opportunity for his students, if they're given the chance. He wants Atlanta's next generation to be educated as coders, so they can compete for lucrative jobs offered in their hometown. Read more about Jeffrey's work through honorCode here: https://gasocialimpact.com/jeffrey-martin-of-honorcode/ ... See more

Opportunity Zones (OZs) could lead to greater infusions of capital into historically underinvested neighborhoods. And with over 250 OZs in Georgia, only 27 of which are in Atlanta, much of our state is eligible for investment.

But use this as a warning sign: The legislation provides investors with the ability to invest without regard to the social impacts of their investments.

Today is the last day to apply for the Global Social Venture Competition, which is in its 20th year of turning ideas into impact! If you are a young start-up aiming to make a difference in the world using technology for good, apply to compete in #GSVC2019 to win up to $80,000 in prizes! Learn more at www.gsvc.org. ... See more

Empowering the next generation of social entrepreneurs by providing mentoring, exposure, and over $80,000 in prizes to transform their ideas into ventures.

The 2018 Social Enterprise Ecosystem survey is live! If you work in the social enterprise space, please take the time to complete this survey. As a token of our appreciation, you can be entered to win a $50 Amazon gift card or a ticket to SOCAP 2019. We look forward to sharing the new SEER report with you in May 2019! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SEER2019 ... See more

Our new series #DefinetheJargon, which seeks to demystify the terms that surround the world of impact investing, continues this week with "social enterprise." A group of words that you have likely heard tossed around a lot is defined here in these three slides. How are they differentiated from traditional charities and businesses? How do you compare their impact? Read more at https://gasocialimpact.com/. ... See more

Atlanta, Georgia is booming in the field of tech. It's the sixth fastest growing start-up city in the US, generating 20,000 programming jobs with an average salary of about $85K. An Atlanta charter public school teacher by day, Jeffrey Martín sees the obvious opportunity for his students, if they're given the chance. He wants Atlanta's next generation to be educated as coders, so they can compete for lucrative jobs offered in their hometown. Read more about Jeffrey's work through honorCode here: https://gasocialimpact.com/jeffrey-martin-of-honorcode/ ... See more

Opportunity Zones (OZs) could lead to greater infusions of capital into historically underinvested neighborhoods. And with over 250 OZs in Georgia, only 27 of which are in Atlanta, much of our state is eligible for investment.

But use this as a warning sign: The legislation provides investors with the ability to invest without regard to the social impacts of their investments.

Today is the last day to apply for the Global Social Venture Competition, which is in its 20th year of turning ideas into impact! If you are a young start-up aiming to make a difference in the world using technology for good, apply to compete in #GSVC2019 to win up to $80,000 in prizes! Learn more at www.gsvc.org. ... See more

Empowering the next generation of social entrepreneurs by providing mentoring, exposure, and over $80,000 in prizes to transform their ideas into ventures.

The 2018 Social Enterprise Ecosystem survey is live! If you work in the social enterprise space, please take the time to complete this survey. As a token of our appreciation, you can be entered to win a $50 Amazon gift card or a ticket to SOCAP 2019. We look forward to sharing the new SEER report with you in May 2019! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SEER2019 ... See more

Our new series #DefinetheJargon, which seeks to demystify the terms that surround the world of impact investing, continues this week with "social enterprise." A group of words that you have likely heard tossed around a lot is defined here in these three slides. How are they differentiated from traditional charities and businesses? How do you compare their impact? Read more at https://gasocialimpact.com/. ... See more